"Median" on a residential street?

[slow06]

My wife's grandparents live in Central Arlington. We noticed in their neighborhood that they are putting what resembles a median, on either side of the road in a few places.

They are spaced out about a foot or so from the street's curb, and get gradually bigger up to about 2 feet wide in the center. It is basiclly a 5-10 foot bottle neck in a seemingly random part of a residential neighborhood.

Does anybody have any clue what these are for. (I was thinking drainage or speed but I don't see them being effective for either.)

The ones we saw were on 2nd street going west from Davis if anyone knows the area.

[talisman]

They are putting in bicycle lanes. It's been a big deal over there for awhile.

[slow06]

Hmm, interesting. It looked a little narrow for that, but I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to it.

Seems like a good use of an estimated $55,000,000.

[2011GT]

Hmm, interesting. It looked a little narrow for that, but I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to it.

Seems like a good use of an estimated $55,000,000.

Yes Dallas is full of fatasses, I think its nice to have bike trails.

[Strychnine]

The ones we saw were on 2nd street going west from Davis if anyone knows the area.

2nd kind of changes into Norwood at Davis... this is probably what you're seeing.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12/26/3619018/arlington-finishing-traffic-calming.html

Arlington finishing traffic-calming project on streetPosted Monday, Dec. 26, 2011


ARLINGTON -- Ruby Woolridge no longer fears going to her mailbox or backing out of her driveway.

Cars used to zip through her Arlington neighborhood at close to highway speeds, occasionally taking out mailboxes, stop signs and trees. But the city is finishing up a $75,000 traffic-calming project on her section of Norwood Lane that has changed the four-lane street to a winding road with features to slow drivers down.

"Kids were drag racing on our street. Motorcycles were using it as a raceway. People were having cars landing in their front yards all the time. It was getting more and more risky," Woolridge said.

For at least three years, Woolridge and other residents on Norwood between Abram Street and Fielder Road have been asking the city to do something about speeders. A 24-hour traffic study found that average speeds were 50.5 mph on the 35-mph street, but some cars were traveling as fast as 70 mph, faster even than on adjacent Abram, public works officials said.

"Very seldom do we find anything near that. This was pretty rampant," senior traffic engineer Caryl DeVries said about speeding. "If there was ever a street that needed calming, this was it."

Designing a solution
City officials worked with the neighborhood on a solution. A proposal to tear out the four-lane road and rebuild a narrower residential street would have cost $2 million, which was not available, and speed bumps were ruled out because of safety concerns, Public Works Director Keith Melton said.
"We strongly advised against that because of the speeds. The street is too wide and too straight to do something like that," Melton said, adding that drivers are likely to slam on their brakes or lose control after hitting the bumps at high speeds.

With neighborhood consent, the city used bond funds to narrow the street by adding 5-foot bike lanes on the north and south sides as well as "bump-outs," concrete islands that jut into the street and create a winding path that forces drivers to slow down.

Norwood now also has the city's first residential traffic circle, at the Westview Terrace intersection.

Along with the traffic-calming project, Arlington spent $89,000 to repave that section of Norwood using street maintenance funds.

Melton said the improvements could be implemented in other neighborhoods with speeding problems. The city requires all the affected property owners and at least 70 percent of all residents in the neighborhood to sign off on such projects, the same as when neighborhoods request new sidewalks or speed bumps.

Residents and motorists passing through are still getting used to the changes. Some have written to council members, calling the bump-outs and traffic circle a traffic hazard.

"Even the best drivers under ideal conditions will be caught off-guard now and then," wrote Buddy Saunders, who said many black tire scrapes already mar the newly poured concrete. "Norwood is now a disaster waiting to happen."

But Melton said traffic circles can be safer than four-way stops because there's less chance of a collision.

While many drivers on a recent afternoon appeared to understand how to navigate the traffic circle, a couple slammed on their brakes while approaching the intersection. The city is working on different signs to tell drivers to yield to other cars in the traffic circle, which is still under construction. Signs also caution motorists to drive 25 mph.

"We accomplished exactly what we wanted, to slow people down. We are not stopping people from driving through the neighborhood," Melton said. "People on the street love it from what I'm being told. They can step in their front yard for the first time and not worry about cars going so fast."
A new traffic study is expected in February, Melton said.
Safer and happier

Though fairly new to Arlington, traffic circles, or roundabouts, are increasingly common in North Texas.

Southlake plans to build its fifth roundabout, at Highland Street and White Chapel Boulevard near Carroll High School, in 2013. Colleyville plans to begin construction next year on a $1 million roundabout to reduce traffic congestion where Cheek Sparger Road, Jackson Road and Central Drive intersect.

Fort Worth leaders are also considering a roundabout at one end of the Henderson Street bridge as part of the Trinity Uptown project.
Arlington already has one traffic circle, in a commercial area near Rangers Ballpark.

City Councilwoman Lana Wolff, who has met with Norwood residents over the years to discuss speeding, said the traffic-calming project was thoroughly vetted by the neighborhood before construction began.
"Anytime there is change, there is lots of angst on the part of citizens," Wolff said. "The city is not going to go in and put this stuff in ... unless the neighbors agree to it."

Woolridge said there have been a few minor accidents with people hitting the new curbs but she feels safer and happier with the new sidewalks, bike lanes and slower traffic.

[Chopped54]

2nd kind of changes into Norwood at Davis... this is probably what you're seeing.





http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12...c-calming.html

My wife's parents live off Norwood. First time we saw that shit we were like WTF?! Two seconds later we se some dipshit plow straight over the entire thing, breaking a wheel OFF and two other flats. Calmed the shit out of her driving!

[talisman]

My wife's parents live off Norwood. First time we saw that shit we were like WTF?! Two seconds later we se some dipshit plow straight over the entire thing, breaking a wheel OFF and two other flats. Calmed the shit out of her driving!

lmao!

[CJ-95GT]

What a waste of city funds.

[94form2000z]

My wife's parents live off Norwood. First time we saw that shit we were like WTF?! Two seconds later we se some dipshit plow straight over the entire thing, breaking a wheel OFF and two other flats. Calmed the shit out of her driving!

Norwood which connects from Abrams to Fielder is already done. It is completely retarded driving through there.

I will avoid it in the future as it totally has you weaving back and forth through there.

[slow06]

2nd kind of changes into Norwood at Davis... this is probably what you're seeing.





http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/12...c-calming.html

It looked a lot like that, I guess I just misjudged how far into the street they were.

In retrospect the only reason I slowed down was to look at them, they didn't cause me any issues. Good to know though.

[Forever_frost]

It's a passing lane

[Ratt]

What a waste of city funds.

If you lived in that neighborhood and had kids playing around, would you want some ass-hats doing 50-70 in a 35 mph zone?

[94form2000z]

If you lived in that neighborhood and had kids playing around, would you want some ass-hats doing 50-70 in a 35 mph zone?

That is not what the funds were spent to do. A parent should be smart enough to choose where they reside and take in to consideration that there is a main road in the their front yard.

While you may not want people speeding you know you will always end up with some that do. I would never move my family if I had younger kids to a road like that.

Still a waste of funds to me.

[yellowstang]

Those stupid speed humps would probably work as well, and be cheaper to install.

[Forever_frost]

That is not what the funds were spent to do. A parent should be smart enough to choose where they reside and take in to consideration that there is a main road in the their front yard.

While you may not want people speeding you know you will always end up with some that do. I would never move my family if I had younger kids to a road like that.

Still a waste of funds to me.

Oh I don't know. If the people who put the money into the system wants xyz, they should get it if the money's there